Blood & Bones: Judge (Blood Fury MC Book 3)

by Jeanne St. James

  “He got military time? Some special ops shit or somethin’?” Ozzy scratched at his beard.

  “If he does, hasn’t said a fuckin’ word about it,” Cage said. “He mention anything to you, Prez?”

  “Nope. Not to me,” Trip answered. “And he knows I served.”

  “Those silent types can be fuckin’ crazy,” Cage said. “I get why Judge was wary about him, but he did kick ass up there. Was fuckin’ impressive.”

  “Yeah, he was,” Judge muttered.

  “That’s why I’m thinkin’ we shouldn’t wait. Show him our thanks by votin’ tonight. Get him his rockers. And have the bash on Sunday.”

  “Just gotta call a vote, Prez.” Ozzy sat back in his seat and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’ll make the motion.”

  “Second,” Sig said.

  Trip’s eyes slid to Judge’s. “You okay with this?”

  “Yeah,” he answered.

  Trip nodded. “All in favor?”

  All five officers voted aye, except for Cage, since the Road Captain didn’t get a vote unless another officer was missing and he needed to fill in.

  Trip smacked the gavel on the table. “Motion passed. Shady’s gonna be our newest fuckin’ member.” He smiled. “Shit’s comin’ together, brothers. Club’s growin’, the coffers are growin’ and everyone’s takin’ care of business.”

  “Twelve of us now, but with Shady patchin’ in we only got one fuckin’ prospect left. We need more,” Cage said.

  “Yeah, Easy can only shovel so much shit,” Deke said.

  Trip spoke up next. “And like I say every fuckin’ meetin’, keep your eyes open and ears to the ground. Thinkin’ after Easy, all prospects gonna do a year sentence. Let’s vote on that, too.”

  Unanimous yeahs went around the table when Trip called it to a vote.

  “A whole fuckin’ year of bein’ dog shit. That’s gonna suck.” Cage shook his head but wore a grin. The man liked giving the prospects shit.

  Cage needed to watch that because prospects became members and once they were members they might want revenge.

  “Then you better thank the sperm gods you came from Dutch’s wrinkled, hairy nut sac, and that your momma took his load in her twat and didn’t swallow you,” Ozzy told him. He opened his mouth and, using his fist, made the motion of a blow job.

  Cage flicked his lit hand-rolled at Ozzy, who batted it away. “How you know what Dutch’s nut sac looks like unless you were fuckin’ up close and personal? Got somethin’ to tell us?”

  “Don’t ask, don’t tell,” Trip ordered, trying to keep a serious face. “When it comes to dick, nobody gives a shit if you suck it or fuck it.”

  “Wonder if Shady leans that way?” Sig asked.

  “Don’t give a fuck as long as it doesn’t affect the club,” Trip answered his brother. “Anyway, Sig, set up a party for Sunday. Keep it on the DL what the party’s for. Gonna surprise him.” He turned toward Deacon. “Get a pig from the Amish since I don’t want our VP anywhere near them.”

  “Need Deke with me,” Judge told Trip.

  Trip frowned. “With you where?”

  “Gonna head up to Rochester. He already did some groundwork, but we need to dig deeper.”

  “What the fuck’s in Rochester?” Ozzy asked.

  “That’s where Cassie’s from,” Deke answered.

  “Yeah. And?”

  “Yeah and we gotta head up there,” Judge answered the club’s secretary. “Try to track down her ex.”

  “Ain’t her ex yet,” Trip muttered.

  Judge turned toward him. “And that’s the reason we’re headed up there. Gonna find his fuckin’ ass, scrape her free of him.”

  “She got the money to pay you? Know she’s hurtin’ financially,” Trip asked.

  “She ain’t got shit. And now her sister and brother-in-law left town, she’s gotta hire a babysitter while she’s workin’ at Pete’s. Gonna set her back even more.”

  “Get one of the sweet butts to watch the kid,” Cage suggested.

  “Fuck that,” Judge said. “Cassie don’t know what a sweet butt is. She finds out and one of ‘em is watchin’ her girl...?” He shook his head.

  “Then he might lose out on a piece of that sweet, sweet pussy,” Deke finished for him in a sing-song voice and with a grin.

  “Cuz,” Judge growled.

  “Oh fuck, you tappin’ that?” Ozzy asked, his grey eyes wide. “She’s got it goin’ on.” He smirked and used his hands to make an outline of a woman in front of him, indicating how curvy Cassie was.

  Judge ignored him.

  So did Trip. “Who’s watchin’ the dogs? Want me to keep ‘em up at the house?”

  “Nope. Stayin’ with Cassie and her girl. Figured the girl will love ‘em and they’ll love bein’ spoiled. Plus, they can protect her while we’re gone.”

  “They need protection?” Trip asked, eyes narrowed. “She hasn’t said anythin’ to me about bein’ worried.”

  “Nope. But they’ll be there alone.” It was his job to protect his club and everyone in it. That protection extended to Crazy Pete’s since it was owned by both the club and Trip’s ol’ lady. By default, with Cassie working there, it put her under his protection.

  He didn’t give a fuck what anyone else thought about that. He would protect her like club property whether she was or wasn’t.

  Whether she would be or not.

  He’d let nothing happen to her on his watch. He already had enough guilt eating at him.

  Sig was studying him way too closely. He almost lost his woman because of them not being watchful enough. Because of Judge not taking his position as seriously as he should have. Having Autumn kidnapped had driven Sig to a breaking point. Hell, it almost drove a lot of them to the breaking point. So, the man understood Judge’s concern.

  “Want them up in your apartment while you’re gone? Red and I can keep an eye on ‘em.” Sig glanced around the table. “Hell, we all can.”

  Judge shook his head. While he appreciated the offer... “Don’t wanna uproot her girl again so soon. And there’s only one bed in my place. Neighbor girl’s gonna watch Daisy while Cass works.”

  “You two be back before Sunday?” Trip asked.

  “Leavin’ tomorrow mornin’ and hopefully be back way before Sunday. Don’t wanna miss a fuckin’ patch party,” Deke said. “Missed the last one. With loose liquor comes loose lips. You know which ones I mean.” He smirked.

  “Can’t leave the business that long anyway,” Judge told Trip.

  “Want someone to check on Cass when she’s not at the bar?” the prez asked.

  “Don’t think she’s in any danger. Ex ain’t violent, just a crook who gambled away everythin’ they had. Dogs should be good enough.”

  Trip nodded and spun the gavel within his fingers. “Any other business?”

  “Yeah,” Deke spoke up. “All the paperwork’s finally settled with the crematorium. Easy and Shady know what their fuckin’ doin’ now. Everythin’s movin’ forward. It’s all ours now. The vet said he’d be available if any questions come up.”

  “Good,” Trip said. “More scratch in our pockets.”

  “And a good way to dispose of any evidence,” Sig said under his breath.

  “Let’s hope to fuck we don’t need it for that. Anything else?” Trip’s head swiveled around the table. When no one else said a word, he slammed the gavel against the table. “Meetin’ a-fuckin-djourned.”

  As the dogs pushed past him and rushed into the house, he heard an ear-splitting squeal, a thunder of feet both four-legged and two-legged as they bum-rushed each other from two different directions.

  “Yo!” he yelled as he hurried inside and dropped the shit he was carrying at his feet, worried the two big dogs would plow right through and over Daisy, scaring or hurting her.

  As he quickly made his way into the living room with Cassie on his heels, he saw that did happen. But Daisy was rolling around on the carpet, maniacally laughing her little
ass off as the dogs licked her face.

  “Momma!” she laugh-screamed. “Are these my new dogs?”

  “No,” Cassie said. “Judge asked if we could watch them while he goes away.”

  Daisy’s blonde head popped up between two blocky bulldog heads. “Where ya goin’, Judge?”

  “Got some business to attend to, kid.” He clapped his hands. “Jury, Justice, settle.”

  Both dogs flopped to their bellies next to the five-year-old, their tongues hanging out and both wearing “smiles.”

  “Guess they like kids?” Cassie asked with eyebrows raised.

  “Haven’t eaten one yet.”

  “That’s reassuring.”

  He peered down into her face. “You worried?”

  “I’m a vet tech, remember? American Bulldogs are not a breed I’d worry about around her. And they both seem well-adjusted and well-trained.”

  “Best dogs ever,” he assured her.

  “Maybe when she’s older I’ll get her a dog.”

  “Want one noooooow, Momma!” demanded the little hellion.

  “Well, you have two right now to deal with. Let’s see how well you do taking care of them for Judge. Then we’ll see.”

  “How long are they stayin’, Judge?” Daisy asked as she laid flat on her back, one hand on each dog, petting them.

  “’Til your aunt and uncle get back.”

  Daisy’s smile got so big it practically lit up the whole room. “When you leavin’?”

  “In the mornin’.”

  “So, you’re gonna make me breakfast?” came the high-pitched question.

  Judge smiled down into Cassie’s face. “Depends if your momma lets me.”

  Another ear-piercing squeal filled the room as she sat up. “Pleeeease, Momma! Judge can make me French toast since you won’t.”

  “I make you French toast,” her mother exclaimed.

  “His is better.”

  “Doubt that, kid.”

  “It is,” Daisy insisted.

  “Maybe we’ll have your momma make us both French toast and we can see whose is better.”

  Cassie narrowed her eyes up at him. “Wow,” she mouthed.

  He grinned at her and she shook her head.

  “Time for you to get ready for bed.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Judge said under his breath just loud enough for Cassie to hear.

  She whacked his stomach with the back of her hand and he smothered his laugh.

  “Can they sleep in my room?” Daisy asked, climbing to her feet.

  “No,” her mother answered at the same time Judge said, “Yeah.”

  Cassie frowned. “You don’t want them with you?”

  “Them bein’ a couple doors down ain’t gonna be a problem,” he murmured. “Won’t be room in your bed for ‘em, anyway.”

  Color exploded in Cassie’s cheeks and she quickly glanced at her daughter, who was now having the dogs chase her around the living room in a circle.

  “I wasn’t planning on having them in my bed, anyway. I’ve never slept with a dog of the four-legged variety and I wasn’t planning on starting.”

  He cocked an eyebrow. “Slept with one of the two-legged variety?”

  She returned that cocked eyebrow. “You tell me.”

  “Get your girl ready for bed. Will put the dog beds in her room. Though, doubt they’ll use them. Where you want their food and stuff?”

  She sighed. “Kitchen, I guess.” She turned to her daughter. “C’mon, Daze. Time to get ready for bed.”

  “But I wanna play with them,” Daisy whined as she and the dogs continued their endless circles around the living room like a NASCAR race. Judge was waiting for the twenty-car pile-up.

  “You can do that tomorrow out in the backyard where you have lots of room and won’t break anything.”

  “It fenced?” Judge asked Cassie.

  She nodded. “Yes.”

  “Good.” That relieved the worry of Cassie having to walk the dogs. They were strong, and though well-trained, preferred their freedom to do their business, which was why being out on the farm was perfect for them.

  Judge hauled the dogs’ stuff to the kitchen, then the beds upstairs and, once Daisy and both dogs were settled in her small bed, he gave them a last thorough head scratch and left Cassie alone with her daughter to read her a story.

  He grabbed his duffel from the hallway where he had dropped it at the top of the steps and went into the master bedroom to wait.

  And wait.

  He was beginning to lose his patience when the door finally opened and she slipped inside the room. “Well, having the dogs here is the same as giving her a two-liter bottle of Mountain Dew. She’s so hyped, I didn’t think she’d ever close her eyes. I put the dogs to sleep with my story-telling long before her.”

  “They in bed with her?”

  “I’ll give you one guess.”

  “You care?”

  “She’s pretty active in her sleep. I worry more about them than her.”

  “They don’t like it, they’ll move.”

  Her gaze dropped from where he was sitting on her bed, leaning against the headboard in just his jeans and a black wife-beater, to the foot of her bed where he’d piled his duffel, his cut, and his boots.

  “I guess you were planning on spending the night?”

  “Didn’t realize that was in question.”

  She glanced over her shoulder at the closed door. “Well...”

  “Think she cares that I’m in your room?”

  “I care.”

  “Don’t want me here?”

  “I worry about what she’ll think about it.”

  “Not for nothin’ but did you plan on stayin’ celibate ‘til she’s eighteen?”

  “I just don’t...”

  He surged from the bed and stalked toward her, not stopping until they were toe to toe.

  “Want a revolving door,” she finished softly, staring up at him.

  “You plannin’ on another man comin’ through that door,” he jerked his chin toward the closed one behind her, “tomorrow night?”

  “No.”

  “The next night?”

  “No.”

  “One man in your bed don’t make a revolvin’ door, Cass.”

  “No men would be better.”

  “For who? You?”

  “For Daisy.”

  “Why? What’s wrong with teachin’ your girl that women have certain needs and there’s nothin’ wrong with gettin’ those needs fulfilled?”

  “I don’t want to be a bad mother,” she whispered.

  “Baby, if you think wantin’ sex makes you a bad mother, you’d be fuckin’ wrong. You wanna know what a bad mother’s like? I can have you talk to a few people who’d make you think you’re the best fuckin’ mother in the world.” He slid his fingers into the hair above her ear, tipped her head up and his down until their mouths were close but not touching. “Wantin’ my dick don’t make you a bad mother, makes you a normal woman.”

  “What about tomorrow morning?” she whispered.

  “Be outta your bed early. Will get her and the dogs up and let you sleep. Yeah?”

  “Undisturbed sleep sounds better than an orgasm,” she breathed, her fingers fisting the cotton of his tank.

  He grinned. “Guess I gotta work harder on those orgasms, then. Musta been fuckin’ slackin’. Guess I’ll start now.”

  He bumped his chest against hers, making her take a step back. He did it again until her back was to the door. Pushing his knee between her thighs, her legs widened slightly. His right hand, which was still threaded in her hair, slid around to the back, bunching it within his fist. He tugged the handful until her face was tilted up and her neck arched and exposed.

  The pulse in her throat pounded as hard as the pulse in his dick. He needed her naked. He wanted her to plaster her palms against the door, tip her ass out and wanted to take her hard and fast from behind.

  But that’s not what he did.
/>
  Instead, he ran his lips over that pulse, feeling it speed up even more.

  He jerked up the bulky sweatshirt she wore, which did nothing for her curves, to find her wearing some bullshit sports bra. Something that crushed her tits to her chest. He yanked one side up and snagged her peaked nipple between his fingers and twisted it until she whimpered. Her throat moved under his mouth as he drug it across her delicate skin up to behind her ear. After sucking on her earlobe for a few seconds, he caught it between his teeth, just biting it hard enough for her to feel it.

  He did not miss the shiver that shot through her, which made him smile.

  Releasing her hair, he gathered her wrists in one hand and pulled them over her head, pinning them to the door. He took her mouth, sucking her bottom lip, scraping his teeth over it, then exploring inside.

  He captured her groan, shoved her sweatshirt and sports bra up farther, seizing the other nipple and rolling it between his fingers until it was diamond hard and she squirmed against him. Then gripping it tighter, he twisted it until he knew it would cause a sharp pain.

  Like her groan, he caught her gasp and tangled his tongue with hers, not letting her take control of the kiss.

  He kissed her harder, drove his tongue deeper, releasing her nipple, sliding his hand down her stomach and into the loose cotton pants she wore. Again, something that did nothing for her curves but hide them.

  He hated that.

  She needed to show off how fucking luscious she was. Her hips, her ass. Those tits.

  He knew what she was hiding under those baggy clothes. He’d seen it. He planned on seeing it again.

  He planned on seeing it a lot.

  He only hoped Cassie wanted the same thing as he did.

  His goal was to find Lange to scrape Cassie clean of him. To let her move on.

  No matter what, he wanted to help her.

  And, yeah, he was also being selfish. Because he wanted what Lange held onto legally.

  But Judge wanted her free and clear. No piece of her still belonging to another man.

  He wanted all of her to be his.

  It was fucking crazy.

  There were plenty of women who didn’t have baggage. An ex, who wasn’t an ex yet. A kid with that ex. And one financially broke because of that ex.